Narain Karthikeyan has been handed a 20-second post-race penalty for his part in the collision between himself and Sebastian Vettel, which resulted in a puncture for the Red Bull driver.
As Vettel came to unlap himself, he pulled in ahead of the HRT driver too soon and clipped the cars front-wing, which punctured Vettel’s left-rear and dropped him from fourth to P11.
The contact looked as though it was entirely Vettel’s error, but the FIA has opted to penalise the Indian for causing an avoidable collision under Article 16.1 of the FIA Formula One Sporting regulations.
Karthikeyan was earlier involved in a second collision with Jenson Button, with the latter admitting blame for the incident.
“I was struggling to keep the tyres up temperature and it was totally my fault,” Button admitted. “I hit the brakes, I lost the rear. I was struggling to get the car slowed down. I tried to get around the corner but I couldn’t do anything but hit him really.”
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